YouTube Still Has A Problem; ANA Resists US Privacy Legislation

YouTube still has a brand safety problem. The media world has had its eyes trained on Facebook for the past month, but CNN reports that more than 300 brands recently ran against YouTube channels featuring violent extremist content, white nationalism, pedophelia and North Korean propaganda. US tax dollars may have contributed to these channels too, as ads from US government agencies were also found in the mix. Brands like Amazon, Nordstrom, Netflix, Hershey and Adidas said they were unaware where their ads were running, but only Under Armour is pausing spend on the platform. "If brands want to make sure this stops, the only way for that to happen is for them to stop spending [on YouTube] until it's fixed," says eMarketer senior analyst Nicole Perrin. More.

Fools Rush In

The ANA is irked that Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal could lead to GDPR-style privacy regulation in the US. Proposed regulation coming out of the US government, like the CONSENT act and California’s Consumer Right to Privacy Act, could require companies to gain explicit consent to use personal data and transparently share categories of data they collect from consumers. That could result in an “extraordinarily disadvantageous" situation for brands, Dan Jaffe, EVP of government relations at the ANA, tells MediaPost. The ANA is actively opposing the legislation and urging lawmakers to wait and see how the GDPR fares in Europe before passing any regulation. "We can learn from other people's wisdom – and can also learn from other people's mistakes," Jaffe says. US legislators may not realize they’re “going to go through the land mines and will probably step on a few." Read it.

Back To The Well

GiveWell, a nonprofit focused on assessing charities, published a 2017 analysis of its marketing and outreach, an interesting look at online advertising ROI for an altruistic organization. The nonprofit plans to ramp up podcast advertising after running attribution tests for podcast campaigns with FiveThirtyEight and Vox that pegged $5–$14 in donations returned per dollar spent on the ad. Those estimates are not based on immediate donations but projected lifetime values accrued from new donors. A digital marketing consultant showed strong returns, though retaining a PR firm did not have positive results, despite the high value placed on earned media. Read the full post.